Kolkata: Amid the row over the Supreme Court verdict on Rafale jet deal, Union Minister Smriti Irani on Monday demanded an explanation from the Congress as to why it tried to play with matters of national security and create doubts about the credibility of the Indian Air Force (IAF) by spreading "constant lies" in the last one year.

File image of Union Minister Smriti Irani. PTI

Targeting Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who has been relentlessly attacking the Narendra Modi government at the Centre over the defence deal with a French company, Irani said the Congress leader must reveal his source of information about the alleged anomalies in the deal.

"For the last one year Congress has been playing with the nation's security by spreading a series of lies regarding the Rafale deal," Irani said.

"However, lies do not last long. The Honourable Supreme Court has exposed the lies spread by Congress on this issue in front of the whole nation after scrutinising all the aspects of the deal," Irani told the reporters at the state BJP headquarters in Kolkata.

"Rahul Gandhi must tell people, who was his source of information? Who inspired him to humiliate the Indian Air Force, and defame the country on international platforms," she added.